Railway braking apparatus



Fan. 4, 1938 BONE 2,104,607

RAILWAY BRAKING APPARATUS Original Filed June 1, 1936 a0 ,K I 62 Z HI 'INVENTOR HIS ATTORNE Patented Jan. 4, 1938 v UNITED v STATES RAILWAY BRAKING APPARATUS Herbert L. Bone, Forest Hills, Pa., assignor to The Union Switch & Signal Company, Swissval 7 Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania 7 Original application June 1, 1936, Serial No. 82,771. Divided and this application April 16,

1937,SerialNo.=137,296

2 Claims.

My invention relates to railway braking apparatus, and particularly to that class of braking apparatus known as car retarders. More particularly, my invention relates to inert car retarders, that is to say, to car retarders in which the braking bars are normally constantly biased to braking positions in which they exert a fixed amount of retardation on all cars which pass through the retarder.

One object of my invention is to provide a car retarder of the type described which can be readily adjusted manually when, due to wear or to changes in the weather or traflic conditions, it is desirable to change theamount of retardation.

Another object of my invention is to provide a car retarder of the type described which is inexpensive to manufacture and install, and which at the same time is highly efficient in operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a car retarder of the type described which may be attached directly to, and supported entirely by, the rail or rails with which it is associated.

Other objects of my invention will appear as the description proceeds.

The present application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 82,771, filed on June 1, 1936, for Railway braking apparatus.

I shall describe one form of car retarders embodying my invention, and shall then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

The accompanying drawing is a vertical sectional view showing one form of car retarder embodying my invention.

Referring to the drawing, the car retarder in the form here shown comprises a spring unit U consisting of two similar levers 55 and 55 provided at their lower ends with channel-shaped recesses 56 and 56 which loosely receive the opposite base flanges of one rail l of a stretch of railway track in such manner that the levers are free to pivot about the base flanges as a fulcrum, and which levers are provided at their upper ends with L-shaped recesses 51 and 51 for the reception of brake shoes 4 which are bolted to the levers by means of bolts 58. The levers 55 and 55 are also provided with aligned openings 59 and 59 and extending with considerable clearance through these openings and through an opening 8 in the rail I is a spring bolt 60, one end of which is provided with a head 6|, and the other end of which is threaded for the reception of a nut 62. Mounted on the spring bolt 60 between the nut 62 and the lever 55 are an inner spring seat 63 and an outer spring seat 64,

and surrounding the bolt between the two spring seats 63' and 64 is a compressed coil spring [2 which constantly biases the levers toward each other by a force which depends upon the stiffness of the spring l2 and the adjustment of the nut 62. Also mounted on the spring bolt '60 are two spacing sleeves 65 and 66, one of which is disposed between the rail I and the inside lever 55 and the other of which is disposed between the rail l and the outside lever 55 The sleeves 65 and 66 are of such lengths that when these sleeves are engaging both the rail and the associated levers the inside and outside brake shoes will occupy their normal positions in which both brake shoes 4 project into the path of car wheels traversing rail I. To facilitate rotation of the lever 55 relative to the spring bolt, the head BI is provided on opposite sides of the bolt with aligned rounded bulges fil which cooperate with mating recesses 61 formed in-the outer side of. the lever 55 and to facilitate rotation of the lever 55 relative to the inner spring seat 53 the inner face of this spring seat is provided on opposite sides of the springbolt withrounded bulges 63 which cooperate with mating recesses 6'! formed in the outer side of the lever 55 It should be pointed out that while in the drawing I have shown the retarder as comprising only one spring unit U, in actual practice the retarder will comprise a plurality of similar units disposed at spaced intervals along the rail in the manner shown in Fig. 1 of my parent application, Serial No. 82,771. It should also be pointed out that in actual practice the brake shoes 4 will be continuous throughout the retarder, and will perform the functions which are generally performed by brake shoes and brake beams acting together.

The operation of the retarder as a whole is as follows: When no car is passing through the retarder, the brake shoes 4 are held in their normal position by the spring units U, the two levers 55 and 55 of each spring unit under these conditions being biased toward each other, to the positions in which they engage the associated sleeves 65 and 66, by a force which depends upon the initial compression of the springs l2 of the spring units, and hence upon the adjustment of the nuts 62. When a car enters the retarder, the wheels of the car will force the brake shoes apart against the bias of the springs l2 of the spring units, thus causing the levers 55 of the spring units to successively rotate in a counterclockwise'direction about the rail flange, and the levers 55 of the units U to successively rotate in a clockwise direction about the rail flange. The counterclockwise rotation of each lever 55 acts through the head 6| of the associated bolt 60 to move the bolt toward the left, and also causes a slight rotation between the head 6| of the bolt and the curved recess 61 in the lever 55 while the clockwise rotation of each lever 55 moves the associated spring seat 63 toward the right to a position in which the associated spring l2 becomes compressed beyond its initial compression, and also causes a rotating motion between the associated inner spring seat 63 and the curved recess 61 of the associated lever 55 The braking forces which are exerted on the car will, of course, de pend upon the stifiness of the springs l2 of the spring units and the amount of the initial compression of the springs, and may be adjusted by varying the lengths of the sleeves 65 and 66 to vary the normal position of the braking bars and also by varying the initial compression of the springs I2. The brake shoes are so constructed that they are somewhat flexible and it will be apparent, therefore, that the apparatus will exert the full retarding force which it is capable of exerting on each car wheel as it passes through the retarder.

If it is desired to render the retarder inactive for any reason, this may be done by backing ofi the nuts 62 a few turns. This will permit the levers 55 and 55 to rotate, due to the bias of-the brake shoes 4, to positions in which the brake shoes are out of the path of car wheels passing through the retarder.

It should be pointed out that when the brake shoes become worn, this wear can be compensated for by replacing the spacing sleeves 65 and 66 with other sleeves which are shorter than the ones shown, and then readjusting the nuts 62 to provide the desired brake shoe pressure.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of braking apparatus embodying my invention, it is understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. Railway braking apparatus comprising two levers disposed on opposite sides of a track rail and pivotally' supported at their lower ends on the base flanges of the rail for swinging movement toward and away from the rail, each said lever being provided with an opening which aligns with the opening in the other lever and with an opening which is provided in the web of the track rail, a spring bolt extending through said openings with clearance and provided at one end with a head which cooperates with the one lever and at the other end with a nut, brake shoes secured to the upper ends of said levers, two spring seats slidably mounted on said spring bolt between said nut and the other lever, a compressed coil spring surrounding said bolt between said spring seats and acting tobias the levers toward each other, and two spacing sleeves one disposed on said spring bolt between each lever; and the rail web for limiting the movement of the levers toward each other, due to said spring to predetermined positions.

2. Railway braking apparatus comprising two levers disposed on opposite sides of a track rail and pivotally supported at their lower ends on the base flanges of the rail for swinging movement toward and away from the rail, each said lever being provided with an opening which aligns with the opening in the other lever and with an opening which is provided in the web of the track rail, a spring bolt extending through said openings with, clearance, biasing means mounted on said spring bolt and acting to bias the levers toward each other, brake shoes secured to said levers, and two spacing sleeves one disposed on said spring bolt between each lever and the rail web for limiting the movement of the levers toward each other due to said spring to predetermined positions. i

' HERBERT L. BONE. 

